Best of the 2012 Indie Spirit Film Festival

Indie Spirit Film Festival 2012: Narrative Features

Things I Don’t Understand (Best Feature Winner)
Given the recent stir about Girls, maybe I shouldn’t be plugging this film that is to some degree a 20-something white people figuring themselves out in New York City film. But I don’t care, it is absolutely splendid and the festival voters agreed, making it the highest rated selection.

Missed Connections (Screeners’ Choice Winner)
Contrasting with the dramatic tone of the best feature winner, this romantic comedy that came millimeters short of the top prize is both a laugh riot and a refreshing entry into what is so often a stale genre. The basic premise of a recently spurned man contacting women who post on the missed connections section of craigslist, setting up meetings under a false front and then having that person stand them up only for our lead to step in and take advantage of their delicate emotional state is interesting. The film takes it in creative directions and importantly doesn’t fall into the trap of demeaning women that the premise could have led to. The acting all around really sells it and makes you care about all the characters.

Bad Is Bad (Student Feature Winner)
The home invasion/hostage sort of set-up of this film isn’t particularly inventive but the visual style is pretty impressive. It’s not that often that I notice things like camera moves but this has some really great cinematographic choices.

Shadow Monologue
This is an okay story made really fascinating through some of the visual tricks. Aside from the Chinese shadow puppet shows that are at the heart of the plot, the film finds other interesting ways to make use of shadows.

Slave
This sexy, dark crime mystery film has a neat, shiny look and a certain odd vibe that suggests Twin Peaks, without the surrealism. The choice to have the foreign actors speak in heavily accented English adds to this. Starring Julia Dietze, who may get a bit more known because of the “Nazis In Space” film Iron Sky, this film comes closer than most to that oral equality I recently wrote about.

Indie Spirit Film Festival 2012: Documentary Features

The Love of Beer (Best Documentary Winner)
Looking at female brewmasters, mostly in the pacific northwest, this documentary is fun for anyone interested in beer, which should be everyone. A combination of some of my favorite things.

Mission To Lars
This is a sweet story about a guy with a genetic form of autism, and a big fan of Metalica, on a quest to meet drummer Lars Ulrich. The interesting thing is that the barrier isn’t Metalica, who come off as really awesome such that I kind of regret the negative feelings I had given their reaction to piracy issues, but rather his own symptoms.

Catching Dreams
This doc follows a man who, in his 30s, decides to change his career to trapeze artist and starts a journey to make it into Cirque du Soleil.

Indie Spirit Film Festival 2012: Shorts

Faith (Best Short Winner)
This is a bendy little crime thriller with a good payoff. Perfect use of the short form medium to tell a tight story.

Grounded
This was probably the best looking film in the festival. A weird little sci-fi flick didn’t necessarily wow me with the story, though it was interesting, as with the sheer awesomeness of the effects.

Wallenda
Telling the story of a noted high-wire walker, this is a really cool looking narrative short. While one obviously figures there are computer effects going on (rather than actual high-wire stunts), the green-screening is pretty flawless.

Kids For Kidnapping
This student short follows two tweenish kids on the run from their babysitter as the older sister attempts to attend a party. Very strong look at youngsters straining a bit too hard to be grown up.

The Gay Who Wasn’t Gay Enough
This is a fun little short about a gay guy who feels out of his depth relative to the more feminine stereotype…brought to you by the Gay Men’s Rugby of Toronto.

Mujeres Del Tirano
While selected for the festival, and rightfully so, they weren’t able to show this short that has an interesting take on domestic violence. Considering how many technical challenges present themselves in running a film festival, it sometimes seems remarkable how few films fall through, this being the only one of the 118 films selected.

The Dance
If The Artist proved anything, it is that words remain overrated as a part of film. Showing in the music shorts set, I was not sure how this fit in until a moment about halfway through and then it all kind of clicks into place. The actors bring that physicality of movement and expression that is essential to dialogue-free film.

And now with my 60 hour week working the festival almost at an end, my blog should get back to more normal posting patterns.

*This blog is not affiliated with the Indie Spirit Film Festival and only reflects the opinions of the author.

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6 Responses to Best of the 2012 Indie Spirit Film Festival

Not sure why you left out the Colorado Spotlight Awards – Just Like the Movies in the shorts category and GrowthBusters in the feature category. Maybe because you were exhausted! Thanks for investing your time to support the festival. It was a fantastic event!

If I was recognizing all the great films from the festival, this post would include an unwieldy 118 films. :-) Your film’s focus on the harms of growth (and the need for more sustainable development locally in particular) should be an always appreciated contribution to the discussion, though I know it isn’t always.

So I just picked a manageable selection of both award winners and some films that were not awarded that I wanted to throw a bit of love to.

Yeah, this is a small but growing festival. Hopefully one of these films makes a big splash to raise the profile of the festival.

Anyway, I’m liking LAMB a lot, trying to get involved in as much as I can. It’s a little intimidating knowing who to follow since one can’t follow everybody actively but having the various things highlighting articles lets me just jump in on things that catch my eye.

About This Blog

The origin of this blog is, as the title suggests, a warehouse of reviews. Though many of my past reviews are lost to the ether, starting in January 2010 I started posting reviews on a forum where it was hard to track down specific reviews for future reference so I decided to take on the large task of transferring them to the blog. Now that the over 900 reviews are transferred I will be keeping the blog updated with each new review I write.

But as proof that this isn’t just a warehouse, I will try to provide a variety of film related posts from film themed essays to film lists along with that hefty dose of review that does the blog’s name justice.

Anyway, however you find the blog best serves your purposes, whether it is checking up on what I thought of a film you’ve seen or are looking for a recommendation for something different, I welcome you and please feel free to leave a comment with any questions or feedback you have or contact me on twitter @MxBondo or at moviereviewwarehouse AT gmail DOT com.